To the Princess folks (who don't only sail Princess).. am I now going to be disappointed?

[1160451]

Just back off Regal Princess. Our first Princess Cruise.

We are UK based and cruise with Fred Olsen, P&O, Marella, Celebrity and once each with HAL and RCI.

The Service on Princess was second to none.

Cabin, Bar and Dining Room Staff all first class.

[phatlad]

Service? Great. The employees on the ship really do their best. The problem is there's fewer of them.

 

A lot of other things, however, are lacking. Food quality and entertainment being the top 2.

[Guest ldtr]

38 minutes ago, phatlad said:

Service? Great. The employees on the ship really do their best. The problem is there's fewer of them.

 

A lot of other things, however, are lacking. Food quality and entertainment being the top 2.

Last year maybe. At this time staffing seems similar to preCovid. Entertainment is back to precovid schedule with many of the visiting performers better then 2019.  Music venues back to preCovid levels.

 

Has been the same on all 3 of the cruises I have been on since January.

[phatlad]

16 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Last year maybe. At this time staffing seems similar to preCovid. Entertainment is back to precovid schedule with many of the visiting performers better then 2019.  Music venues back to preCovid levels.

 

Has been the same on all 3 of the cruises I have been on since January.

I was on the Ruby Princess sailing out of Galveston April 2-9. First Princess cruise. Most likely my last Princess cruise. It was so far below my expectations I'd rather cruise Carnival.

 

And it wasn't just me. Everyone we talked to in the lounges and in the MDR said it was the worst cruise they've ever been on. Also spoke with several first-time cruisers who had no idea why anyone would want to cruise if "this is what it is." I told them not to let this experience ruin them from crusing, because there are much better cruise lines out there.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, phatlad said:

I was on the Ruby Princess sailing out of Galveston April 2-9. First Princess cruise. Most likely my last Princess cruise. It was so far below my expectations I'd rather cruise Carnival.

 

And it wasn't just me. Everyone we talked to in the lounges and in the MDR said it was the worst cruise they've ever been on. Also spoke with several first-time cruisers who had no idea why anyone would want to cruise if "this is what it is." I told them not to let this experience ruin them from crusing, because there are much better cruise lines out there.

I was on the cruise right after yours.  I thought it was quite good, though the 80s theme probably helped some. 😃   

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, phatlad said:

I was on the Ruby Princess sailing out of Galveston April 2-9. First Princess cruise. Most likely my last Princess cruise. It was so far below my expectations I'd rather cruise Carnival.

 

And it wasn't just me. Everyone we talked to in the lounges and in the MDR said it was the worst cruise they've ever been on. Also spoke with several first-time cruisers who had no idea why anyone would want to cruise if "this is what it is." I told them not to let this experience ruin them from crusing, because there are much better cruise lines out there.

Funny thing I felt the same on my last RC cruise.  Even though I have done 10 cruises on RC. As well as cruses on HAL , Princess, Oceania, Celebrity, P&O and a few others.  

 

Very clear that you tried Princess once and did not like it.  It was not what you were used to on your line of choice.

 

RC is fine for what it is, a family focused cruise line, just like Carnival. Many things a geared to that market. Princess, Celebrity, HAL are adult focused lines. 

 

All depends on one's preferences.

Edited May 25, 2023 by ldtr

[cruzysuzy]

I am a huge fan of the convenience of the International Café.  The Island Princess does not have one so it's a no go for me.

[jeromep]

2 hours ago, phatlad said:

I was on the Ruby Princess sailing out of Galveston April 2-9. First Princess cruise. Most likely my last Princess cruise. It was so far below my expectations I'd rather cruise Carnival.

 

And it wasn't just me. Everyone we talked to in the lounges and in the MDR said it was the worst cruise they've ever been on. Also spoke with several first-time cruisers who had no idea why anyone would want to cruise if "this is what it is." I told them not to let this experience ruin them from crusing, because there are much better cruise lines out there.

Wasn't the Ruby suffering from some recurring noro on board during the early spring?  I'm sure there is a thread on here that I ended up commenting upon.  That may have impacted your experience.

 

Galveston is also a "new" port for Princess.  They have come and gone from Galveston over the years for a number of reasons.  I think their fleet is large enough now, and there is demand for shorter transits to ports to get to cruises, that putting a ship in Galveston and doing Western Caribbean cruises has a good amount of demand.

 

While consistency in service is the holy grail of any service industry, especially travel, it is incredibly difficult to achieve.  I've read the boards and been on enough cruises to know that in any fleet and any given cruise season there is "that ship" in the fleet that isn't doing so well, for whatever reason.  While it had a negative impact on your cruise, the "that ship" torch may have been passed to the Ruby.  It has been held by a number of other ships that I can think of.  For the longest time it seemed that the Crown was "that ship" that was getting negative reviews.  And for a while it was the Caribbean Princess, mostly due to the engine issue it suffered from that required an extensive dry dock to address.

 

I'd love to know what you disliked about this cruise?

[tobyt]

Depending on what you are looking for each line has features we like:

NCL. Laid back life, no packing drama, fun game shows

RCL. Big! Great Broadway style shows, lots of pools, adult space

Princess. International Cafe, good shows and trivia, feels like home/comfortable 

Celebrity very lovely, great entertainment and outside space but pricey

Carnival if price was right, sure, 

MSC again if price were right, beautiful ship odd less appealing entertainment

 

My feeling will always be how bad could it be, someone cooks, cleans, entertains and I get to go to cool places.

Have some trips been better than others of course same as some days I would like to fast forward past!

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, cruzysuzy said:

I am a huge fan of the convenience of the International Café.  The Island Princess does not have one so it's a no go for me.

Just how different is the LA Patisserie?  Basically they serve the same function as the IC on the Coral and the Ocean.  While the food selection is not as large, they also have some food items as well as the specialty coffee.  

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, jeromep said:

Wasn't the Ruby suffering from some recurring noro on board during the early spring?  I'm sure there is a thread on here that I ended up commenting upon.  That may have impacted your experience.

Oh yeah, there was Noro on that ship in March. Maybe it affected that particular sailing, but we didn't hear a thing about it. Thankfully. 🙂

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

10 hours ago, ldtr said:

Just how different is the LA Patisserie?  Basically they serve the same function as the IC on the Coral and the Ocean.  While the food selection is not as large, they also have some food items as well as the specialty coffee.  

typo should say Island not Ocean

[ExploringTheGlobe]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:36 AM, voljeep said:

so, is a 2 hour to 2 hour 15 minutes dinner in the 'mdr' on a 'regular' night acceptable? - and this is a 2 top, not a group...  this is a service problem of the crew that is not there

Definitely!  I love a dinner that lasts that long but I don't go there to eat; I go to dine!

[phatlad]

 

16 hours ago, jeromep said:

Wasn't the Ruby suffering from some recurring noro on board during the early spring?  I'm sure there is a thread on here that I ended up commenting upon.  That may have impacted your experience.

 

Galveston is also a "new" port for Princess.  They have come and gone from Galveston over the years for a number of reasons.  I think their fleet is large enough now, and there is demand for shorter transits to ports to get to cruises, that putting a ship in Galveston and doing Western Caribbean cruises has a good amount of demand.

 

While consistency in service is the holy grail of any service industry, especially travel, it is incredibly difficult to achieve.  I've read the boards and been on enough cruises to know that in any fleet and any given cruise season there is "that ship" in the fleet that isn't doing so well, for whatever reason.  While it had a negative impact on your cruise, the "that ship" torch may have been passed to the Ruby.  It has been held by a number of other ships that I can think of.  For the longest time it seemed that the Crown was "that ship" that was getting negative reviews.  And for a while it was the Caribbean Princess, mostly due to the engine issue it suffered from that required an extensive dry dock to address.

 

I'd love to know what you disliked about this cruise?

Not sure what Galveston has to do with it? Getting on and off the ship was a complete breeze.

 

My dislikes:

I was extremely disappointed in Main Dining Room. From service to options, it was incredibly subpar. Definitely not a 5-star experience I’m was used to on Royal Caribbean. I don’t think they have enough wait staff. I was constantly waiting for refills on water/tea/soda. On RC, my cup never even had a chance to reach less than half full before it was filled back up. Alcoholic drinks took quite awhile in the MDR. Overall, the MDR was uninspired with a lack of options. On RC I struggled to pick just one from each option and often would order more than one. Not the case on Princess. Severely disappointed in each night’s options. It tasted fine. Not amazing; just fine. There was an overall lack of taste in the courses and desserts, as if the meals were prepared for people whose palate were incredibly bland. MDR breakfast and lunch were abysmal, with a complete and utter lack of choices (No eggs benedict for breakfast?!) Service was extremely slow for both breakfast and lunch. I'm used to eating in the MDR every meal if it is available, because I can't get that quality of food in my normal, daily life. On Princess, I skipped all but one lunch and all but one breakfast. The menus kept me from even attempting to go back to the MDR for breakfast or lunch after my first experience with those meals. It was just pathetic.

 

Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was on par with Golden Corral with less choices.

 

Layout of the ship’s common area is closed, confined and confusing.

 

Entertainment (shows) was D+. I walked out of two of them. Just BORING. Activities a D+. They often overlapped activities, so you would either have to leave early from one to make the other or arrive late to the other. They even had two separate trivia contests STARTING AT THE SAME TIME IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. What gives?

 

Princess app showed different times/info than the daily patter. App can't be trusted; I just ended up taking a picture of the patter and referring to it throughout the day instead of the app.

 

Slice pizza: One of the top five worst things I’ve ever voluntarily put in my mouth. Looked amazing but Christ was it awful. Nice big piece. Took one bite and left the plate where I was. My god was it bad. Equally as bad was the BBQ sandwich from the Salty Dog. I’ve had tastier BBQ sandwiches at gas stations.

 

Room service. Tried thrice. Canceled our first order after we didn’t have it after waiting 100 minutes and we had somewhere to get to. Other two times the food was delivered in about 45 minutes (These were post-9 p.m. orders, so I think if you order later, it will be delivered quicker).

 

As much as they tout Princess Anywhere, it should work. It was awful. Over an hour wait time for a drink and food to be delivered. By no means was I expecting it to be there in an instant but if they make it seem like this magical thing, it should be. They tout it like it’s amazing. It’s not. (In theory, it is, but the fastest we ever received anything was 45 minutes). After the third time of waiting forever, it's clear that's the normal. But they certainly didn't tout it like that. They made it seem like this magical thing. It would've been faster to walk down and up the stairs from the pool to the casino bar and back to the pool -- than to utilize the service.

Edited May 26, 2023 by phatlad

[memoak]

55 minutes ago, phatlad said:

 

Not sure what Galveston has to do with it? Getting on and off the ship was a complete breeze.

 

My dislikes:

I was extremely disappointed in Main Dining Room. From service to options, it was incredibly subpar. Definitely not a 5-star experience I’m was used to on Royal Caribbean. I don’t think they have enough wait staff. I was constantly waiting for refills on water/tea/soda. On RC, my cup never even had a chance to reach less than half full before it was filled back up. Alcoholic drinks took quite awhile in the MDR. Overall, the MDR was uninspired with a lack of options. On RC I struggled to pick just one from each option and often would order more than one. Not the case on Princess. Severely disappointed in each night’s options. It tasted fine. Not amazing; just fine. There was an overall lack of taste in the courses and desserts, as if the meals were prepared for people whose palate were incredibly bland. MDR breakfast and lunch were abysmal, with a complete and utter lack of choices (No eggs benedict for breakfast?!) Service was extremely slow for both breakfast and lunch. I'm used to eating in the MDR every meal if it is available, because I can't get that quality of food in my normal, daily life. On Princess, I skipped all but one lunch and all but one breakfast. The menus kept me from even attempting to go back to the MDR for breakfast or lunch after my first experience with those meals. It was just pathetic.

 

Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was on par with Golden Corral with less choices.

 

Layout of the ship’s common area is closed, confined and confusing.

 

Entertainment (shows) was D+. I walked out of two of them. Just BORING. Activities a D+. They often overlapped activities, so you would either have to leave early from one to make the other or arrive late to the other. They even had two separate trivia contests STARTING AT THE SAME TIME IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. What gives?

 

Princess app showed different times/info than the daily patter. App can't be trusted; I just ended up taking a picture of the patter and referring to it throughout the day instead of the app.

 

Slice pizza: One of the top five worst things I’ve ever voluntarily put in my mouth. Looked amazing but Christ was it awful. Nice big piece. Took one bite and left the plate where I was. My god was it bad. Equally as bad was the BBQ sandwich from the Salty Dog. I’ve had tastier BBQ sandwiches at gas stations.

 

Room service. Tried thrice. Canceled our first order after we didn’t have it after waiting 100 minutes and we had somewhere to get to. Other two times the food was delivered in about 45 minutes (These were post-9 p.m. orders, so I think if you order later, it will be delivered quicker).

 

As much as they tout Princess Anywhere, it should work. It was awful. Over an hour wait time for a drink and food to be delivered. By no means was I expecting it to be there in an instant but if they make it seem like this magical thing, it should be. They tout it like it’s amazing. It’s not. (In theory, it is, but the fastest we ever received anything was 45 minutes). After the third time of waiting forever, it's clear that's the normal. But they certainly didn't tout it like that. They made it seem like this magical thing. It would've been faster to walk down and up the stairs from the pool to the casino bar and back to the pool -- than to utilize the service.

Sounds like you need to go back to RCL

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Sounds like you need to go back to RCL

Kind of reminds me of someone I ran into last cruise. They were trying Princess for the first time, they usually sailed CCL.  They asked me were the comedian was. There was no comedian scheduled for that day. They were shocked that there was not a comedy club every night like there is on CCL.  Their response that the lack of a nightly comedy club was horrible, that they did not have anything to do and that it ruined their cruise.

[Kay S]

8 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Kind of reminds me of someone I ran into last cruise. They were trying Princess for the first time, they usually sailed CCL.  They asked me were the comedian was. There was no comedian scheduled for that day. They were shocked that there was not a comedy club every night like there is on CCL.  Their response that the lack of a nightly comedy club was horrible, that they did not have anything to do and that it ruined their cruise.

I guess that's a lesson in pre-cruise research.  OP asked for experiences comparing Princess with other cruise lines.  That's what people are doing here.  I have no doubt each one is telling the truth, based on their own individual cruise.  That's what OP asked for.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Kay S said:

I guess that's a lesson in pre-cruise research.  OP asked for experiences comparing Princess with other cruise lines.  That's what people are doing here.  I have no doubt each one is telling the truth, based on their own individual cruise.  That's what OP asked for.

Some comments are not giving differences but just trashing everything about a Princess cruise. 

[Kay S]

35 minutes ago, memoak said:

Some comments are not giving differences but just trashing everything about a Princess cruise. 

That is a kind of comparison.  OP aks "Will I be disappointed?"  Princess critics say "yes."

[memoak]

10 minutes ago, Kay S said:

That is a kind of comparison.  OP aks "Will I be disappointed?"  Princess critics say "yes."

Well then maybe more room for me in the bars and clubs

[jeromep]

5 hours ago, phatlad said:

 

Not sure what Galveston has to do with it? Getting on and off the ship was a complete breeze.

 

My dislikes:

I was extremely disappointed in Main Dining Room. From service to options, it was incredibly subpar. Definitely not a 5-star experience I’m was used to on Royal Caribbean. I don’t think they have enough wait staff. I was constantly waiting for refills on water/tea/soda. On RC, my cup never even had a chance to reach less than half full before it was filled back up. Alcoholic drinks took quite awhile in the MDR. Overall, the MDR was uninspired with a lack of options. On RC I struggled to pick just one from each option and often would order more than one. Not the case on Princess. Severely disappointed in each night’s options. It tasted fine. Not amazing; just fine. There was an overall lack of taste in the courses and desserts, as if the meals were prepared for people whose palate were incredibly bland. MDR breakfast and lunch were abysmal, with a complete and utter lack of choices (No eggs benedict for breakfast?!) Service was extremely slow for both breakfast and lunch. I'm used to eating in the MDR every meal if it is available, because I can't get that quality of food in my normal, daily life. On Princess, I skipped all but one lunch and all but one breakfast. The menus kept me from even attempting to go back to the MDR for breakfast or lunch after my first experience with those meals. It was just pathetic.

 

Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was on par with Golden Corral with less choices.

 

Layout of the ship’s common area is closed, confined and confusing.

 

Entertainment (shows) was D+. I walked out of two of them. Just BORING. Activities a D+. They often overlapped activities, so you would either have to leave early from one to make the other or arrive late to the other. They even had two separate trivia contests STARTING AT THE SAME TIME IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. What gives?

 

Princess app showed different times/info than the daily patter. App can't be trusted; I just ended up taking a picture of the patter and referring to it throughout the day instead of the app.

 

Slice pizza: One of the top five worst things I’ve ever voluntarily put in my mouth. Looked amazing but Christ was it awful. Nice big piece. Took one bite and left the plate where I was. My god was it bad. Equally as bad was the BBQ sandwich from the Salty Dog. I’ve had tastier BBQ sandwiches at gas stations.

 

Room service. Tried thrice. Canceled our first order after we didn’t have it after waiting 100 minutes and we had somewhere to get to. Other two times the food was delivered in about 45 minutes (These were post-9 p.m. orders, so I think if you order later, it will be delivered quicker).

 

As much as they tout Princess Anywhere, it should work. It was awful. Over an hour wait time for a drink and food to be delivered. By no means was I expecting it to be there in an instant but if they make it seem like this magical thing, it should be. They tout it like it’s amazing. It’s not. (In theory, it is, but the fastest we ever received anything was 45 minutes). After the third time of waiting forever, it's clear that's the normal. But they certainly didn't tout it like that. They made it seem like this magical thing. It would've been faster to walk down and up the stairs from the pool to the casino bar and back to the pool -- than to utilize the service.

First thing I'd say is that I have no reason to doubt your experience.  These are all plausible observations, and certainly real from your perspective.  I've shared this before on the threads, but the most difficult thing for any service provider to provide is consistency, and this your experience doesn't match with my experience with Princess, but if you troll the boards enough you'll find that Princess still seems to be restarting after emerging from the shut down.  I also believe that Princess has a staffing issue.  If you are sailing on one of the more recent new builds, like the Discovery, Enchanted or Sky Princess, you'll likely not experience this.  They seem to put their "A" teams on the new builds as there is both demand amongst cruisers to be on the newer ships and they want the newness of the ship to dovetail with the service experience.  But that also means that the older ships will either operate with staff shortages or less experienced staff, resulting in the experience you had.

 

I feel bad that you had such an experience, I would also be dissatisfied if I had your observations of the cruise.

 

Another observation of late is that service and food vary greatly on the older ships.  It feels like the perfect storm of under staffing and less experienced staff on the older ships, again going back to the line having limited human resources and wanting their best foot put forward on the new builds.  I also suspect there may be an on board leadership issue.  If the leadership on board a ship is top notch, you'll have happier more motivated staff who will make the experience excellent.  If the leadership is lackluster or downright negative, that passes through to the staff and service.

 

I really like the Ruby Princess.  We sailed on her many years ago for a Caribbean cruise.  This was just before the Royal class ships had been introduced and the Ruby was the newest ship in the fleet.  At the time they had their "A" team on board and you could tell.

 

I suppose the only thing I can say is to give Princess another chance in a couple of years.  The farther the shutdown is in the rear view mirror the more likely that more ships will be more consistent with each other as staffing and provisioning ships stabilizes out.

[Flo71]

We're in the UK and have only cruised Princess and P&O since Covid. Prior to covid Princess was our favourite, post covid Princess is our favourite. The only way you are going to know is to go 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful time x